The Hound of the Baskervilles

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Book 5 of Sherlock Holmes
*Audio Part from The Complete Sherlock Holmes | Narrated by Simon Vance

First of all, I agree with a few other readers out there that this book was probably not the best book to listen to as an audio book.  In fact, I might concede that point with all of the Sherlock Holmes I've listened to so far.  I might have been a little more entertained if I had actually read The Hound as a print book.  But I love Simon Vance's narrations--he has such an excellent way of handling his male and female voices, and he absolutely surprised me with the few American characters from A Study in Scarlet during that strange Utah/Mormon tangent, as well as the voice of Sir Henry in this book.

In fact, there was a scene wherein Dr. Watson stumbles upon a surprising visitor, and with Simon Vance's different intonations, I immediately knew who the surprising, mysterious visitor was without having to be told.  And I got a little excited!

And also, I spent an Audible credit on this audio book, so I will persevere with the rest of the Sherlock Holmes stories in it.  I may just have to find myself a print book to follow along with if I get confused.

Because confused I did get, indeed, at the beginning of The Hound of the Baskervilles.  In fact, I actually had to start the audio book over three times because my brain wandered a little bit.  Then I told myself that I need to pay attention to the book rather than multi-tasking while listening to the book--a problem I'd never had before except with one other book that I never finished listening to.

Anyway, even with me paying attention, the book DID have a fairly slow start-up after the initial, intriguing opening with Dr. Mortimer.  But then Sir Henry started going on and on about his brand new boots, and then I got lost.  Then we entered the Baskerville home and things felt like they were getting interesting again... but I ended up setting the book aside in favor of listening to music while I drove to work, or did piddly chores around the house, or worked on my blog.

To be honest, the mystery was an interesting one, but not a story I feel like needed to be 5 hours long.  The atmosphere was excellent, I'll give it that.  And I DO like Dr. Watson and seeing him set off on the investigation on his own while Sherlock Holmes does his own thing.  But really, the book didn't pick up until the two are reunited and Holmes starts doing his super-investigating.  As much as I am a little put off by Holmes's arrogance sometimes, he has a way of making it come off kind of charming at the same time--it's to the point where I'm not sure whether or not I like that Holmes is irritatingly arrogant or not.  Because his arrogance is pretty deserved considering how good he is at his detecting work.

Anyway, I'm still enjoying myself with the Sherlock Holmes stories.  And as I did not really do any other updating and had set aside the book for a while, I conclude that:

1.  It's enjoyable, but not something I'd come back to anytime too soon.
2.  I'm still in love with Simon Vance's narration.
3.  I'm a terrible buddy read participant as I have not participated in any of the discussions of this book since the official Buddy Read started at Booklikes.

***

2016 Reading Challenges:
• Goodreads Reading Challenge
• BookLikes Reading Challenge
• Mount TBR Challenge
• 2016 Halloween Bingo

"I have been in Devonshire." "In spirit?" "Exactly ... After you left I sent down to Stamford's for the Ordnance map of this portion of the moor, and my spirit has hovered over it all day. I flatter myself that I could find my way about."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having loved Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles longer than I can remember (kooky "penny dreadful" style screen adaptations notwithstanding), I of course insisted on a visit to Dartmoor when we visited Devon and Cornwall a few years ago.  And oddly, during a vacation otherwise set to the tune of bright blue skies and Mediterranean temperatures, the weather cooperated even on the day when we set off to the moor ... by regaling us, on precisely that day only, with the suitable atmosphere composed of increasingly dark skies, culminating in torrential rain fall and a veritable storm!  So, here's some of what I imagine Holmes and Watson (and the residents of Baskerville Hall, Merripit House etc.) would have seen and experienced:

OK, so it's a village church and not a manor house, but pretty much every major historical building in Dartmoor seems to be made of this sort of stone, and built in this or a similar style.  So just imagine the belflry isn't a belfry but just another wing (with a roof on the same level as the other parts of the building), and you have a pretty good impression of what Baskerville Hall would presumably have looked like.

"Mind you call it Baskerville Arms ..."

(Sir Henry's response to Barrymore's giving notice and explaining that he and his wife intend to "set up in business" in a small way.  The above quote is not actually in the novel – I'm borrowing a minor addition from my favorite screen adaptation here.)

Princetown prison – the infamous Dartmoor penitentiary.

Background on the prison and the nearby quarry, where convicts were made to work (right-click on the image and select "display image" to see a larger version and read the text)

Dartmoor ponies

This is not the first time I've read The Hound of the Baskervilles. I'm not sure what number re-read I am on, but I find it just as engaging every time I read it.

I agree with some of the other buddy readers that this particular book rather lacks in the Holmes-time, but my love of Watson carries the day for me. Sometimes I actually prefer the bumbling sidekick to the primary character - and Sherlock Holmes is occasionally difficult to like.

However, the thing I love the most about this book is the setting. I simply cannot get enough of the moors. Someday, I am going to have to plan a literary pilgrimage to Devonshire, the location of Dartmoor, which is the location of so many fantastic books.

Grimpen Mire is modeled on Fox Tor, Dartmoor:

Doyle's descriptions of the landscape never fail to thrill me:

“It is a wonderful place, the moor,” said he, looking round over the undulating downs, long green rollers, with crests of jagged granite foaming up into fantastic surges. “You never tire of the moor. You cannot think the wonderful secrets which it contains. It is so vast, and so barren, and so mysterious.”

and

Every minute that white woolly plain which covered one-half of the moor was drifting closer and closer to the house. Already the first thin wisps of it were curling across the golden square of the lighted window. The farther wall of the orchard was already invisible, and the trees were standing out of a swirl of white vapour. As we watched it the fog-wreaths came crawling round both corners of the house and rolled slowly into one dense bank on which the upper floor and the roof floated like a strange ship upon a shadowy sea.

And then we have Holmes himself:

One of Sherlock Holmes’s defects--if, indeed, one may call it a defect--was that he was exceedingly loath to communicate his full plans to any other person until the instant of their fulfilment. Partly it came no doubt from his own masterful nature, which loved to dominate and surprise those who were around him. Partly also from his professional caution, which urged him never to take any chances. The result, however, was very trying for those who were acting as his agents and assistants.

The mystery itself is quite pedestrian, in my opinion, when held up to today's standards. But back when Doyle wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles, it must have caused a sensation, indeed. And even after all of these years, it still holds up.

Read by Simon Vance

(Part of The Complete Sherlock Holmes: The Heirloom Collection)

Although I sort of knew the story (from adaptations with varying degrees of fidelity), I hadn’t actually read The Hound of the Baskervilles before this. Because I was reading several other things at the same time, I decide to listen to an audio version because I had acquired The Complete Sherlock Holmes in audio and hadn’t listened to any of it yet. I think this may have been a mistake because my mind kept wandering while listening and it just didn’t seem as fun as it did on the page when I referred back to my epub copy. Oh well. It’ll be up for a reread at some point.

I’m not sure whether it was just my imagination because I knew that at this stage of his career, Doyle was sick of Holmes and resisting bringing him back, but I felt that this bled through into the story and that Doyle was mocking Holmes. I was tempted to call Holmes a condescending lout at one point. Sometimes I think I prefer the various adaptations of Holmes to the original (blasphemy, I know). The mystery seemed forced (with the letter and all that).

And I felt bad for the spaniel. That was unnecessary, in my mind.

I'm counting this as the "Reads with (booklikes) friends" square for the Halloween bingo.

How is everyone doing? 

I just started Chapter 5 - Three Broken Threads. 

This is by far my favorite of all of the full-length Holmes books. Well, at least, I think it is. I've actually never even read The Valley of Fear.